Oh Level 158 of Candy Crush… You Almost Ended Me

by Mel

King Charles in Pippin croons that “it’s smarter to be lucky than it’s lucky to be smart.” And while that may be true for war, it is most definitely true for level 158 of Candy Crush. Here is the thing, I don’t mind working my ass off towards a goal, knowing that all the brainpower I am putting towards solving a problem or completing a task will pay off in the end. But I hate luck-based situations. And level 158 of Candy Crush is a luck-based board.

It’s one of those levels that frustrate me because it feels a lot like infertility: there is nothing you can do to make those candies cascade as you need them to cascade in the same way that a person cannot make an embryo implant despite the New York Times misusing that word every time they write about IVF. A doctor cannot implant an embryo; she can only transfer it. Which means that treating infertility is like throwing spaghetti at the wall with the goal of making the pasta (or embryo) stick. Sure, you can do things to up the chances that the wall will hold the pasta such as using a non-glossy paint or not washing the starch off a strand of spaghetti, in the same way that you can do things to up the chances — such as building a beautiful lining or taking PIO injections — that the embryo will burrow in and stay for nine months. But ultimately, it’s luck, it’s chance, it’s doing the same thing over and over again until it works.

In other words, like this level of Candy Crush.

Is that, perhaps, why this game has such a hold over me? Because my mind is so accustomed to lather, rinse, repeat? To failing and failing and failing, but still trying again anyway?

For those who don’t play (or haven’t reached this level yet), it consists of a two-sided board. Candy from the left side falls into the right side, and the goal is to move a single nut or cherry to the bottom of the right board.

At the bottom of the right side are two pieces of candy encased in licorice. There are also two chocolate machines on the right side, generating chocolate with each move. The point is to use striped candies to blow apart the chocolate and licorice on the right side of the board. It’s not that there isn’t skill involved, but it sort of doesn’t matter how smart you are, because if you can’t make those horizontal striped pieces, you pretty much can’t win this board.

And I had a lot of rounds where I couldn’t make a horizontal striped piece at all.

As I was rounding on that point where I just wanted to give up on Candy Crush because I was no longer having fun, I had a board where I could break one of the licorice pieces in the first move. My second move created a speckled doughnut. My third move dropped that doughnut on the right side of the board via a cascading of candy.

And then everything fell into place, like getting asked to prom, getting a college acceptance letter, and passing your physics test… all in the same day.

In 9 moves, the board cleared with little effort and my nut dropped out the bottom while I tossed my head back in relief. I had 11 moves leftover in which fish and striped candies ratcheted up my score. I took a screenshot of my victory. I’m not ashamed to admit that. Well, yes, I am ashamed, but I’m pretending that it’s totally normal to take screenshots of my Candy Crush victories.

When Josh walked in the door, I asked him how his day was, and then volunteered that I had passed Level 158 of Candy Crush. I reported on it as if it were my job, a fantastic break at work that will change our lives for the better rather than a random level in an iPhone game.

“What made you finally pass it?” he asked.

“It didn’t take any particular skill,” I remarked. “It was just luck.”

“Smarter to be lucky than it’s lucky to be smart.”

There are times in your life when you want to be smart; when you want to be able to see the solution, make things happen, have the great idea. I can’t think of anyone who has succeed in their chosen endeavour who didn’t have a type of brilliance in their back pocket. And then, there are times when you just want to get lucky. When you want all the elements to fall into place, ensuring success, because intelligence is little help in these situations.

Hmmm…. interesting question. I’m smart (according to both other people and “objective” tests) and by some measures I’m very unlucky (3 cancers, very abusive childhood, other illnesses). So would I want the reverse? I don’t think so.

It’s hard to articulate why but a large part of me has been born out of my struggles. I also don’t like feeling I’ve been “given” something – even by luck. So, I’ll take smart.

I am lucky. In what matters most (marriage, children, choosing doctors) I am very lucky. I am relatively smart (smarter than the average if foreign languages is the reference point, surely quite dumb if we’re talking chemistry; over all, I’d say I am smart enough to know I am not so smart). I think this is the perfect combination.

I have a very good and old friend, about whom most people would say he is definitely not smart. But everyone agrees he is very kind (ok, many would say naïve, but only because he is truly, genuinly kind). He is also a very lucky person. He is one of the oldest friends I keep in touch with, and whom I appreciate today even more than ever, precisely because kindness is such a rare occurence these days. I think that his luck helped him have an easier (than most) life and to preserve his innate kindness.

I am feeling particularly unlucky at the moment, so would kind of like to be lucky rather than smart. But only if I didn’t miss being smart. My luck tends to be of the minor/ random kind- I win third prize in raffles a fair amount.

I have a love/hate relationship with flowers for algernon for that reason- I would hate to be smart, become less smart, and feel it slipping away.

I’d prefer lucky, especially while I have no hope of success with fertility and while I keep getting one bad break after another with work. Being smart isn’t getting me shit right now.

When it comes to luck, I tend to feel like I always lose out. Luck is what happens to other people. Other people win the lottery. Other people make it onto game shows from the contestant pool. Other people randomly wind up pregnant with someone new after years of infertility with exes. Never me.

Also, Bear says to tell you that if you feel that way about 158 (which I also hated), wait till you get to 350. We were both stuck there a while (he still is), and luck is why I got past it on Friday. That is one where they try to make it hard and make you pay (and even take away the ability to ask for more lives, which you get back after you pass it), but it IS beatable with the right luck and without paying for extra moves, I promise!

If you pick Lucky does that mean you’re dumb or if you pick smart then you’re unlucky? Because if that’s the case, I’d rather be lucky because what good is being smart if you have bad luck all the time…unless you’re smart enough to circumvent the bad luck…still, as a relatively smart but unlucky person, I’d really love some luck!

Now if you pick Lucky & that means you have average intelligence or if you pick Smart then you have average luck…I think I’d go with Smart in this case…

As someone who has spent two weeks on Level 65, I’d rather be lucky than smart. I have been smarter than some people my whole life, but they were luckier and so they got rewards that never came my way. Having said that, I probably could have been raped or killed a couple of times in my life, so perhaps I was luckier than I think.

when I play Candy Crush and I don’t like to pay for anything. 158 requires luck and my luck has not been good for a long time. I don’t like the levels that require luck more than brains because it means I will be stuck at a level for a good long time. I do appreciate the pointers.

After reading this I was hoping for some luck- and got it! I only tried this level twice. On the second try, I finished the level in two moves. First move made both a striped candy and a sprinkle donut . Smashed them together and boom- the cherry dropped down. I probably used up all my luck for a very long time!!!!

I’m stuck on 158 which is how I came upon your article. Really made me smile. I, too have noticed how these games can feel like metaphors for life & I loved how you articulated it. Luck vs. intelligence – that’s a tough one. Intelligence with no luck is pretty depressing. Luck with no intelligence can create a delusional moron who thinks their successes are justified. A bit of both is probably ideal. Without kindness (as someone mentioned above) neither means much (IMO).

I know one thing. This blog is lucky and I was smart enough to read it. As soon as I went back to my game after being thoroughly entertained by this blog and ensuing comments I beat level 158.
I restarted the game by going back and forth until I had a move giving me a striped candy on the right side of the board. I was soon able to detonate that candy and down dropped the cherries. The cherries sat in the second row from the bottom with chocolate creeping dangerously close when I got a chocolate sprinkle candy on the left. Was able to choose the color underneath the cherries and there they went. Good luck!

Mel, I’m nearing level 185, and I thought I remembered that one as being your nemesis. I checked your blog, and it seems I’ve already passed the level I was so worried about! I’m embarrassed by how relieved I am!

By the way…there’s no penalty for quitting a level before you’ve made a move. I beat 158 in two days by restarting until I could not only break licorice on the first move, but specifically the licorice that would be directly below the nut. It still took a lot of patience and luck, but at least I could give myself the best possible chance.

Still stuck on level 158. I’m waiting for my 4 year old granddaughter to come around and help me. I was stuck on one level for a couple of weeks. She loves to help me find freckles and stripes. Anyway she went off with my I pad and then came back and said “look nanna, I’ve won it for you” and she had too. Just shows that, although my granddaughter is pretty smart, she must also be fairly lucky. Hopefully she will beat level 158 for me!

I regards to level 158 (I would add 147 to this one) it has absolutely nothing to do with how you play, its all about the luck of the draw, dice or whatever candy that comes next. Its what makes me hate this addictive game so much.

Well, I choose smart. Level 158 enlightened me greatly. I’ve uninstalled the program from my phone based upon the decision to rediscover a real life. I believe it’s called going cold turkey.
For the rest of you who continue the wicked madness that is called “Candy Crush Saga,” what else can I say but GOOD LUCK!

this is the funniest shit I have read in the longest time…my cheeks hurt…I came here as a lost hope to get answers to level 158…it is luck for sure…what the heck is a licorice…the x block?…oh and, really makes me hate chocolate. LMAO..Thank you everyone…!

How odd, I had been stuck on level 158 for a week and I wondered how I was supposed to manage this “chocolate machine” problem.
I typed “Candy Crush 158″ into google search and one thing lead to another, after reading this great article which was quite inspiring, I went back to the dreadful level 158 thinking about the tens or hundreds of failures I’ll have to endure before getting to the bottom of that level. However I was pleasantly surprised when the pieces appeared to line up perfectly as I cleared the level with 13 moves left. It felt like reading your article brought me a form of luck in the shape of virtual candies.
I do not consider myself to be a lucky individual but I do believe I am a little bit smarter than the average joe. Is smart better than lucky? I don’t know but I suppose it would be great to have a lot of one or the other if not both.
I wouldn’t need luck if I was very smart since I would probably “make my own luck”, turn the odds in my favour, make anything happen with a dash of genius.
I wouldn’t need to be smart if I was very lucky since everything I wanted would probably just fall on my laps or be handed to me on a silver platter if I wished for it.
The thing is I don’t want to count on luck to succeed because I don’t find it reliable. I would rather count on whatever amount of “smart” I have and use it to become more smart and find the best way to succeed at the game of life.
tl:dr I can be lucky sometimes but I can be smart every time.

Strange but true… Stuck on level 158 and I desperately set out for help, much ala Fuck Candy Crush Level 158. I stumbled on to this blog, and smiled as I read every post. I, too, believe myself smart (by other people’s standards and the foreign language measure) and lucky (to have beaten some unpleasant odds in my life, to be blessed with beautiful twin daughters after battling the stirrups myself) but your blog reminded me to be grateful for both and to embrace the gift of random glee.
I went back to that ridiculous addiction called Candy Crush, intent on trying my luck and then following my smarts to finally abandon ship… The candy gods were in my favour (Yep, 100% luck!) and the level cleared (I can’t really even say I beat it!) in 5 moves.
So, thanks. For the breather, for the reminders, for the win. Cheers.

Thank you for this delightful article and subsequent comments. I am currently waiting for new lives to tackle the dreaded level 158 for what seems like the trillionth time when i happened upon this joy and my hope is renewed!
Fingers crossed i have the luck this time round and both my sanity and phone live to fight another day!

If I believed in luck… LUCKY! I am already smart but sometimes too smart. When you believe in luck you have a sense of faith to believe in the luck of the draw. I choose to live on purpose but Im sure lucky feels fantastic! But so does seeing you faith manifest. Thanks for the insight. Your analogies are funny but poignant. Thanks for sharing!

I finally got to level 158 and decided to google to make sure there wasn’t a way to kill the chocolate fountain thingy, and lo and behold, this post was like the third google result. I was amused to think of a random candy-crush player stumbling across this infertility analogy. I hope they learned something

I’ve been working on 158 for weeks and kept wondering if there was some trick or method I was not aware of as I never felt so helpless on a level before. I was glad to know I wasn’t missing anything but luck. I’ll keep trying but am quickly losing patience. Thanks all for confirming my greatest fears

Some Luck and some smarts are what’s needed in life. Sadly so many people seem to have neither. If there is a greater being out there then this was definitely a flaw in the “great plan”. Come on oh Great Lord Candy Crush give us all a break at level 158. If I don’t solve it today then my new year resolution is to desert my new God of Hazelnuts and Cherries and return to my Suduko of yesteryear.

yeh, I did all that, got lucky and cleared the cherry with a speckled color bomb, but guess what, I was a few points shy of the goal and still lost… and that was two days ago… just waiting to get that lucky again is pissing me off!

this game does not care if you can actually pass a level the makers of this game just want peoples money. They make almost a million dollars a day I read from people who pay to play the game. Really they make is some levels so hard to pass you cant unless you play and Ive read some people learned to cheat the game after all the creators cheat so why shouldn’t we.

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Who is Mel?

Melissa, otherwise known as Mel, The Stirrup Queen, and most recently nicknamed Lollipop Goldstein, has been blogging since 2006. In addition to STIRRUP QUEENS, she also writes the daily Lost and Found (LFCA). She also writes for BlogHer. You can join her on StumbleUpon. She's known to Twitter about her wonky ovaries.